END TIMES: THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH (PART 23)

We live in the most interesting times known to human history. It would seem that mankind is spinning out of control with a spirit of lawlessness driving the human passion. Everywhere we turn there are earthquakes, famines, wars and rumors of wars, sickness, ailments, afflictions, flooding, wildfires, murders, rapes, and the list could go on and on.

Within the church life we have an abundance of newly self declared Apostles and Prophets who supposedly are receiving the "new word" from the Lord about what He is up to in these end times. However, although I believe in and support the Apostolic and Prophetic gifting and ministry for today I think we need to examine those who are claiming to have such callings.

I seriously question those who claim to be Apostles and instead of rooting out and tearing down the traditions of man and laying a true Biblical doctrinal foundation they continue building on the foundations of man-made doctrines.  The only thing that changes is how they dress it up and what they call it. The names used are changed to what is "spiritually correct" for the mega-media church industry.  The attraction has increased based on how much money is available for promotion, live feeds, and the amount of people staffed to run it. However, the results remain the same, not much bang for the bucks, and loud music and entertainment is seen replacing the much needed anointing of God's Spirit.   

I also seriously question those who claim to be Prophets and instead of speaking a "thus says the Lord", word that originated form the throne room, they are guilty of catchy clichés that are passed on from one another that is meant to stir the passions and zeal of their hearers. It is easy to look at an event of a natural disaster and make an empty proclamation that it is the hand of God judging an evil and lawless people. However, the Prophets of old, the true ones made the proclamations of God's blessings or judgments prior to the event so that the people would know that a man of God stood before them. The true Prophets are meant to stand before nations and call them to repentance. The example we have today of so-called Prophets running from church group to church to "give a word" is foreign to Biblical example of Prophetic calling.

We do need to go back to the Word of God and see what the men who stood before God received and why they received it and what they did when they received it. Such was the man Elijah. He was a true Prophet of the Most High God. The reason his ministry is so important to us today is that we will see the Spirit of Elijah fall on the church.

The first thing we see about Elijah is that the Word of the Lord came to him.

1 Kings 17:2-4 ESV And the word of the LORD came to him: (3) "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. (4) You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."

The second thing we see about Elijah is that he did all things according to the Word he had received from the Lord. Oh how we need this today. 

1 Kings 17:5-7  So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. [6] And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. [7] And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

What can we get from 1 Kings 17:5-7 for today in these uncertain times? I get asked almost everyday, "Pastor, what can we expect over the next couple weeks or months?" "Pastor, what is going to happen next on God's timetable?" Let's see what this passage tells us about trust and reliance.
 
What is God doing here?  He brings the prophet to a brook, a place of security and provision, and then allows that brook to dry up!  The lesson is that we are not to look to the "brooks" of life for life.  We are to look to the Father of our provisions.  God is preparing us for total dependence on Him, and is weaning us from everything in which we have found a false security.  This includes the false security of church life. Every brook that we have worshiped and consider to be the source of our nourishment shall be, by our God's merciful hand, utterly dried up.

1 Kings 17:8-10 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, [9] Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.  So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

How would the natural mind respond to this command?  This is the Prophet of God. Surely the Lord would send him to the rich and prosperous churches and church leaders that could bless him with all he needed in exchange for ministering a word to the people. I mean this is not even a Jewish woman the Lord is sending the prophet to. It was bad enough with that raven business, but Zidon is where Jezebel comes from.  Those heathen know no limits to their wickedness, and right now all are suffering in the famine that the Prophet himself proclaimed.  Now, really Lord, how is that Zidonian woman going to sustain a Hebrew prophet?

Such a man of faith is not fashioned in a day, and the shaping process is not necessarily pleasant.  I have a saying about ministers. "I am not sure that I can trust a minister that does not limp." I take these from Jacob and his time wrestling with the Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord touched the strongest point of the human body, the hip socket, and it brought Jacob to the position that he could no longer fight against God and he could no longer run from God, all he could do was lean on God.

Every one of us has a heart itching for personal and family security and therefore are reluctant to be separated from the hang-ups and fleshly cravings upon which we have built our lives. Without spiritual heart surgery by the hand of God, there can be no standing before the Ahab's of life, and no life of sustained yieldingness to our Lord's bidding.  Cutting away is never painless, but when God holds the scalpel the motive is clear and the victory is sure.

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